Afghan schools will open for boys from Saturday, the new Taliban ministry of education said in a statement that gave no indication of when girls might be able to go back to their classes. Most educational institutions across Afghanistan have remained closed more than a month after the Taliban seized the capital Kabul and the Taliban have struggled to reopen the economy and restore normal life in the cities.
The new Taliban ministry of education made the announcement in a statement on Friday, saying state and private schools at the primary and secondary level as well as official madrasa religious schools would be open from Saturday. “All teachers and male students should attend school,” the Taliban said in the statement. The Taliban allowed boys in classes six to 12 to attend school and male teachers to resume teaching across Afghanistan. At some of the schools that have managed to operate, girls up to the sixth grade have attended, and women students have gone to university classes. But high schools for girls have been closed. Taliban officials have said they will not replicate the fundamentalist policies of the previous Taliban government, which banned girls education, and they have promised that girls will be able to study so long as they do so in segregated classrooms. However, women still are not allowed to continue their work in some of the provinces, with exceptions for those who have worked in health departments, hospitals and education. In the past, the hardliner group that took over Afghanistan last month had forbidden girls and women from attending school and work. In some of the provinces, women still are not allowed to continue their work, with exceptions for women who have worked in health departments, hospitals and education.
